Dental implants offer one of the most natural tooth replacement options in cosmetic dentistry but that natural look and feel comes with some installation requirements. If you don't have the right oral health conditions, a dental implant can potentially fail during the critical stage when the jawbone is meant to heal around the metal root to hold it firmly in place. If that failure occurs, the implant can fall out and you might need to start the lengthy treatment process over again.

A few unusual dental problems can get in the way of a successful dental implant procedure. But your dentist might have a solution that can help you get that implant in the future.

Narrow Jawbone Ridge

Dental implants require a certain amount of healthy jawbone in both density and thickness to ensure that the root has enough surrounding bone material once fused into place. Unhealthy jawbone is a common problem that prevents the installation of a dental implant. But even healthy jawbone might have grown too thin to accommodate the implant, which is the case with a narrow jawbone ridge.

The ridge is the uppermost part of the jawbone where the teeth are located. If the ridge is too narrow, the root won't have enough bone matter on every side to heal into place correctly. And while a bone graft can easily fix areas of weakened bone, a narrow jawbone is harder to correct.

Your dentist might instead recommend subperiosteal dental implants. Instead of the root going into the jawbone, the metal base of the subperiosteal implant sits over the ridge in a straddling position. The bone doesn't heal around the plate to hold it into place; the soft tissue does the healing and holding tasks here.

A subperiosteal implant isn't as strong and secure as a traditional, bone-supported implant. But you might consider the difference worth still having the natural-looking tooth in your mouth.

Low Sinus Cavity

If your missing tooth was in your upper jaw, the parallel sinus cavity might become an issue during a dental implant procedure. The sinus cavity is normally high enough to not get in the way during dental work. But some people have lower sinus cavities than others particularly if areas of bone weakness have allowed the sinus to drop down.

Your dentist can potentially perform a sinus lift. The procedure requires the dentist to cut a hole in the jawbone to access the sinus cavity, push the cavity up higher where it belongs, and then insert donor bone as a graft to hold the cavity in place. The graft bone and existing bone will fuse together to ensure the sinus doesn't drop back into the way.

Once the bone graft fuses completely, your dentist can then begin the dental implant process. For more information, contact local professionals like Aaron G Birch, DDS PC.